Special to the Laredo Sun Students with a passion for soccer and who are interested in playing at the collegiate level are invited to try out for the Laredo Community College Palomino soccer team. Prospective players can take advantage of two upcoming tryout sessions. The first will be held on Thursday, March 26 from 12-2 p.m. and the other on Friday, March 27 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the LCC South Recreation Complex, located at 5500 South Zapata Highway. Tryouts are open to recent high school graduates or current college students. High school students who will graduate in 2015 will not be eligible until after their current soccer season ends. There is a $10 fee that must be paid in advance at the Athletics Department in the Maravillo Gym at the Fort McIntosh Campus. Players can submit their Palomino Athletics Tryout Release and Liability Waiver Form the day before they tryout. Additionally, athletes must provide proof of a recent physical and should come to the tryout properly attired in a white t-shirt and black shorts, shin guards and cleats. The LCC Palominos are part of the highly competitive NJCAA Region 14 South Zone Conference. For more information about tryouts or the Palomino soccer team, call the LCC Athletics Department at...

ABC News The Super Bowl is supposed to be about fun and games, but law enforcement is planning for every possible security scenario. High-tech scanners are being used to search every item entering the University of Phoenix Stadium — from fixtures and food to the costume worn by halftime performer Katy Perry, customs and border protection program manager Ronald Nunn said. “Katy Perry’s stage came in last night,” Nunn said. “We’ve got port-a-potties. We’ve got everything — food, hot dogs, hamburgers, the NFL paraphernalia, jerseys, everything.” Officers will be wearing portable radiation detectors, and bomb-sniffing dogs will also be employed. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, in an exclusive interview inside the stadium, told ABC News that security experts are on high alert, with a focus on smaller-scale and lone wolf-style attacks. “Our challenges in Homeland Security are evolving. We have more concerns about domestic-based acts of violence, inspired by things people may see or read on the Internet,” Johnson said. While Johnson said there are no credible threats against this weekend’s game, he said authorities are prepared to respond by any means necessary. That security involves a U.S. Customs Black Hawk helicopter, part of a fleet of aircraft guarding the Super Bowl from above. F-16 fighter jets will also be in the air. Roughly 30 miles of airspace over the big game is...

ABC News About 500 customers qualified with the Buckeyes’ win, said Rob Klaben, vice president of marketing and advertising at Morris Furniture, which was established in 1947. The company isn’t an Ohio State sponsor and says that the promotion isn’t affiliated with the university’s football team. Oregon was a 6-point favorite to win the game, according to ESPN. But the company isn’t coughing up $1.5 million either way. A third-party company, which wishes to stay anonymous, will. “We did work with a third-party company that underwrote the promotion. So we’re excited to see a win,” Klaben told ABC News. But Klaben added, “It’s not inexpensive to have this kind of promotion.” Morris ranked number 70 of the top 100 home furnishing stores by annual sales, according to trade publication Furniture Today. Courtesy Morris Furniture Co., Inc. PHOTO: Furniture is displayed inside Morris Furniture Co. Eligible customers are invited to fill out a rebate form in-person an the stores between Feb. 1 and April 30, with a government-issued I.D. and original sales receipt. Customers can choose between a rebate for their original purchase amount or 110 percent of that in a store gift card. Klaben declined to provide the company’s sales or how much it took in during the promotion period. But he said the promotion was a major boost to a typically slow period of furniture sales, the week before Christmas. The company found that the promotion was so successful that it extended the the period through New Year’s Day from Dec. 30. “It created some great conversation points in our stores,” he...

ESPN Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning played Sunday’s divisional-round playoff game and the past month of the season with a torn right quadriceps, two sources told ESPN. Manning initially injured his thigh when he rolled out right to throw a 12-yard completion toEmmanuel Sanders late in the first half of Denver’s Dec. 14 victory over the San Diego Chargers. After the game, Manning said he injured his leg throwing to Sanders. There was some thought that he got hurt on an 8-yard completion to Sanders with 2:43 to play in the first half, three plays before he left the field and went into the tunnel to the visitors’ locker room. But after the completion on the rollout with 5:39 left, Manning can be seen flexing his leg and grimacing as he moves to call the next play. Time To Hang It Up? Peyton Manning had one of the worst performances of his postseason career during Sunday’s loss to the Colts. Category Sunday Career Rank* Incompletions 20 T-3rd most Pass yds 211 4th-fewest Team points 13 4th-fewest Team off yds 288 5th-fewest *Among 24 postseason games –ESPN Stats & Information Manning has a torn rectus femoris, one of the four muscles that make up the quadriceps. The affected muscle runs from the pelvis to its attachment just below the knee. The bruising from the injury was so severe, it had spread to the back of his leg, a source with knowledge of the injury told ESPN. Broncos doctors knew about the injury, and Manning did what he could to intentionally conceal the injury from as many people as possible, sources said. Manning had been listed on the team’s injury reports as having an injured thigh. Manning and the Broncos lost 24-13 to the Colts on Sunday night in Denver. He finished 26-of-46 passing for 211 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown pass came on the Broncos’ first possession of the game, and Manning struggled mightily at times to push the ball down the field. According to ESPN’s Stats & Information, Manning was 2-of-12 passing for 49 yards on attempts that traveled at least 15 yards and 6-of-21 for 107 yards on passes that traveled more than 5 yards. Sunday’s game was Manning’s fourth-lowest yardage total in a postseason game in his career, and it left the quarterback mulling his future after the game. “My mindset right now is just disappointment after [Sunday’s] game,” Manning said after the defeat. “I’m disappointed. I kind of need to process this game. We’ll meet [Monday]. I’m disappointed I need to process this game.” Asked if he could definitely say he was planning to return to the Broncos next season, Manning said, after a...

ABC News FLORIDA.- A former Miami Dolphins player fell from his boat off the coast of Florida and somehow managed to swim nine miles to shore to safety, the Coast Guard said today. Robert Konrad, who played for the Dolphins from 1999 to 2004, was fishing offshore when he fell from his boat Wednesday night off coast of Florida near Palm Beach, Petty Officer Mark Barney of US Coast Guard told ABC News. The boat was on autopilot and drifted away from him. When his friends noticed Konrad was overdue they alerted authorities. The Coast Guard and Palm Beach Co. Sheriff’s Office searched for him for an hour. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office located him on the beach around 4:40 a.m. in Palm Beach. He was able to swim approximately nine miles to shore and was in the water for 10 to 12 hours, Barney said. Konrad was showing signs of hypothermia and was taken to an area hospital. The website for KT Capital lists Konrad as a principal in the investment firm. A call and email to Konrad seeking comment weren’t immediately...

The Huffington Post LeBron James joined the chorus of voices from the wide world of sports paying tribute to Stuart Scott. ESPN’s popular and charismatic anchor died on Sunday morning at age 49 after a battle with cancer. Can’t believe you’re gone from us! I am deeply saddened because not only will not be replaced as a anchor or reporter but more than that as a genuine cool person. What u did for our culture, bringing that Swag to reporting can only be copied(which I hear it today on tv watching sports). I would say not because they stealing your swag, it’s all out of RESPECT! It was always a breath of fresh fun air when u would show up and we’d chat up. Thank you so much for being u and giving us inner city kids someone we could relate to that wasn’t a player but was close enough to them. #RIPStuartScott #FuqCancer...

ABC News President Barack Obama joined “The Herd” on ESPN Radio on Friday and discussed a wide range of topics that included athletes speaking out on social issues and the NFL’s new personal conduct policy. Over the past several weeks, athletes at arenas, stadiums and on social media have sought to raise awareness of perceived problems in police-community relations and perceived problems in the criminal justice system following the deaths of teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York. “When you think of our greatest sports heroes — Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Arthur Ashe — they spoke out on issues that mattered at pretty critical times,” Obama told show host Colin Cowherd. “And for athletes to recognize they are citizens as well as entertainers and have a voice that is legitimate, I think it is important. I think it is useful.” LeBron James, Derrick Rose and Lakers players including Kobe Bryant have worn “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts during warm-ups before games, referring to the final words spoken by Garner, who died after being put in a chokehold by police in Staten Island. In St. Louis, Rams tight end Jared Cook and four teammates made the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture before recent pregame introductions — a show of support to those in Ferguson who protested the shooting death of Brown by a police officer. The president also acknowledged the NFL’s struggles in handling domestic abuse under its previous personal conduct guidelines. A revised conduct policy was put into immediate effect Thursday. “The way it was handled also indicates that the NFL was behind the curve as a lot of institutions have been behind the curve in sending a clear message. You don’t want to be winging it when something like this happens,” Obama said. “You want to have clear policies in place. The fact that polices have been established, I think, will be helpful in sending the message that there is no place for that kind of behavior in society, whether it is in sports or anyplace else.” Obama also alluded to a decision-making structure that was behind the times in terms of representation in dealing with the league’s most challenging issues. “This is not unique to the NFL but maybe more pronounced in the NFL is that there is an old boys network in terms of how it operates,” he said. “And there have been some blind spots that are not just rooted in professional football but dating back in college football. Certain behaviors have been tolerated historically that really should not have been tolerated. Hopefully this is a wake-up call and people think about this more systematically.”...

The Huffington Post Janay Rice claims it was not her idea to apologize after being the victim in a domestic violence incident involving her husband. The wife of free agent NFL running back Ray Rice told Matt Lauer of “Today” that the Baltimore Ravens “suggested” that she apologize during a press conference in May. Janay Rice revealed that she would not have apologized — or even participated in the press conference — had the Ravens not proposed the idea. The first segment of the interview aired Monday, just days after Ray Rice’s indefinite suspension from the NFL was overturned by an arbitrator. Candy Palmer, Janay Rice’s mother, joined her daughter for this portion of the interview: Matt Lauer: And did anyone at the Ravens say, “Janay, it would be really good if you issue some kind of an apology?” Janay Rice: They suggested it, yes. Lauer: Did they come up with the wording? Rice: No, not specifically. They basically gave us a general script. Lauer: That really started it. Rice: And that was frustrating for me because, obviously, people took it as I’m taking light off of what Ray did. In no way. Candy Palmer: Or you’re giving him an excuse. Rice: Yeah. No, not at all. I was basically, not doing what I was told, but at the same time I didn’t think it was completely wrong for me to apologize, because at the end of the day, I got arrested too. I did something wrong too. Not taking any light off what Ray did because I agree with everybody else, it was wrong. Lauer: The Ravens tweeted out that portion of that statement, your apology, and then they quickly took it down, because I think they understood very fast the reaction to that apology. Do you think the reaction was warranted from people around the country. Rice: I completely understood it. Which was frustrating because the whole thing was just awkward, to be honest. Lauer: But had it not been for the Ravens, urging you or suggesting you apologize, you would have never been at that press conference and you would have never apologized. Rice: No. No. In an interview with ESPN’s Jemele Hill, Janay Rice also indicated that the Ravens had provided a “suggested script” for the press conference. In an as-told-to piece, published on Nov. 28, she reflected on the press conference: Looking out over the media, I became angry, seeing all the people who had been covering this and adding to the story. I wanted to tell everyone what was really on my mind. When it was my turn to speak, I said I regretted my role in the incident. I know some people disagreed with me publicly apologizing. I’m not saying...